“He did not like his lot in life, and it seemed like nothing was going right for him,” a law enforcement official said, describing the writings found at the crime scene. “It’s clear he was in a very bad state of mind.”...

[H]e lived with his mother, Laurel Harper, a nurse who fiercely protected him from, among other things, the neighborhood sounds of loud children and barking dogs. Once, neighbors said, she went door to door with a petition to get the landlord to exterminate cockroaches in her apartment, saying they bothered her son.

Here are some "new details" about Harper-Mercer, whose relationship with his mother reminds me of Adam Lanza's. That sensitivity to sound is suggestive of an autistic disorder, and Harper-Mercer attended The Switzer Learning Center, which deals with "learning disabilities, health problems and autism or Asperger's Disorder."

Sofia Camarena of Long Beach, California, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she used to date Harper-Mercer's father. "I used to change Chris' diapers when he was a baby," she said.... "He was born with problems. He was hard to discipline. If you told him 'no,' he would scream like you had just hit him."...

There are a number of indications that Harper-Mercer had mental health or behavioral issues. His screen name on some social media sites was "lithium love." Lithium is used as a psychiatric medication.

"Lithium" is also a song title. Lyrics: "I'm so lonely but that's okay I shaved my head..."

"... and I'm not sad/And just maybe I'm to blame for all I've heard/But I'm not sure..."

Harper-Mercer was discharged from the Army 5 weeks into basic training for failing to meet "minimum administrative standards."

Harper-Mercer was born in the United Kingdom, stepsister Carmen Nesnick told CBS Los Angeles, moving to the United States when he was very young. He grew up in the Torrance area. His parents, Ian Bernard Mercer and Laurel Margaret Harper, divorced in 2006.

97 comments:

One armed student/teacher might have drawn a concealed pistol and limited that massacre--But, for the "Gun Free Zones" (ie "Free Fire Zones" for criminals) established at such schools as Umpqua Community College, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University, Etc.

Anyone who maintains that guns will be not available to such monsters OR to citizens supporting the Founders' views on weapons, tyrants and free citizens IS too dishonest or mentally ill to speak about OR have authority over the rights-and-lives of students and other citizens.

The shooters deadly attacks on Christians might be considered only a reflection of the Administrations actions against traditional Christians.

But the LA Times says officials say he had white supremacist tendencies. No pics of mom, but there is one of dear old, white Dad.

Sometimes the joints of the narrative must creak mightily to have all that crap crammed in.

No, but, of course, we must DO SOMETHINGGGGGggggggg!

Another guy with mental health issues?

Hey, let's mandate all mental health records be available to all law enforcement agencies. Let's mandate they be searched for any sale or purchase of guns. Certainly for concealed carry permits. Let us make mental health professionals check a box on all their patients as to their potential for violence. I MIGHT suggest we hold all those marked "yes" for the greater good. If not, let's hold mental health professionals personally liable for any tragedies that can be tied to their failure to report potentially dangerous patients.

There, follow that path and we did SOMETHINGGGGGggggg!

What, you say? Individual rights? Records could be hacked? Stigma attached to mental health? Innocent majority can't be punished for the violent few?

With as many psychiatric problems as this fellow had, how was he able to acquire firearms? Are Democrats deliberately permitting mentally ill individuals (c.f., Jared Lee Loughner) to have firearms as a first step in gun confiscation?

And this turns out to be a pretty clear-cut case of a mentally unstable individual dying -- after first killing -- to get his name known. I think Canada has the right idea. Publish the shooter's name, and go to jail.

I've been looking for a photo of the mother since this happened. I suspect somebody tipped Obama so he could get the hate going before the news leaked out. I wonder if this guy had any BLM literature ? We'll probably never know as I expect somebody in the DoJ cleaned out his apartment.

Of course, he was psychotic. All the mass shooters who were not Muslim were psychotic. The left does not want to talk about metal health. The libertarians are out to lunch on this, too. Families, like Clayton Cramer, have been writing about this for years. His book is excellent.

A high-functioning autistic person might make it through training and through his or her enlistment without being discharged, but it's unlikely. We had a person with mental issues in my platoon when I was in basic training during the Vietnam War, and he washed out after about three weeks. That was during Vietnam, when you received enough training to be decent cannon fodder and were shipped off to southeast Asia where you'd get an M-16 guaranteed to jam if there was a speck of mud anywhere within three miles of you.

These killers have more in common with each other than any cause they espouse. The only exceptions are white men who kill blacks. Those killers are more racist than psychotic and their crimes are due more to their exposure to Republican rhetoric than to mental health issues.......The mother was a health professional. She bears some responsibility.......This young man openly expressed a wish for notoriety. Aren't posts like this and, of course, my comments a way of feeding the next beast.

Seriously, everybody is for a clean environment, but see how that is being used by the bureaucracies.

There is an interesting article - on Instapundit, I think - about how a KGB analyst was able to identify our CIA agents attached to the State Dept. and other agencies around the world, simply by figuring that U.S. bureaucracies probably worked just like the Soviet ones, and analyzing the agency pay records, etc.

This kind of thing also ties in with AA's post above about public school teaching, if you think about it.

No, not "of course." Probably most mass killers are not psychotic. They are not detached from reality. They know the difference between right and wrong, they understand what they are doing is wrong, and they understand the consequences of their acts. They are not hearing voices and experience auditory and visual hallucinations. They are not compelled: they can and do make choices.

Or, just force them to stay locked up while they author science fiction novels. The guy who wrote The Martian evidently did a great job of that. (At least he did of writing a great novel. I assume, based on what I've read of his personality, that he was incidentally a huge enough nerd/geek to vaguely resemble the profile).

Keep them away from guns and chained to strict, publishing guidelines!

Says a member of the party of segregation and slavery. Do you dopes ever learn anything.?

Um, that history changes things and that partisan affiliations do not stay stable.

Did you ever learn about Teddy Roosevelt's "progressive" ideals? Wow! What a huge part of his political persona that was! And he as an important enough president to be put onto Mount Rushmore! You know, they don't do that for every president! Just four of them! Ever!

So apparently the progressivism for which he was VERY well-known wasn't an impediment to to his being commemorated like that. It's great to have Michael K, a member of the party of progressivism, here to remind me of that.

One of the points of basic training is finding out who is unsuited for the military and discharging them so that they don't ruin their life or get themselves or others hurt

From what I have heard about Bowe Bergdahl I was surprised he didn't get discharged during basic as "unsuited for military service." I suspect that since we were so short of soldiers due to constant deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq the standards were lowered.

You could "join" the army. If a recruiter needs to meet quota they can get a waiver for anything. If he doesn't have trouble filling quota he wont bother. I am sure that you could get to basic.

Now actually making it through basic would depend on severity and ability to cope. Definitely not through infantry basic. The first three weeks you spend being woken up and yelled at repeatedly and doing pointless physical exercise with more yelling. Each platoon is put into a large open room with beds 3 feet apart. You spend much of basic learning that you sit around with guys a lot with very little to do except get in trouble and make everyone do push-ups. He almost certainly went to non-infantry basic and obviously washed out but after 5 weeks.

The left seems to be putting out the argument that he's a white supremacist. Is that like the sketch on the Dave Chappelle show where the black guy was in the KKK?Obama is a mixed race and he's black. This guy is mixed race and he's white. When the left wants to push the narrative it always makes the white side of the shooter the villain, and they become white. Same thing with George Zimmerman. prior to him how many people were referred to as white Hispanics? Now, this guy is a white supremacist (who's half black)What is clear is the guy had mental issues. If he was mixed race and also a white supremacist he was also awfully confused.

"Um, that history changes things and that partisan affiliations do not stay stable.

Did you ever learn about Teddy Roosevelt's "progressive" ideals? Wow! What a huge part of his political persona that was! And he as an important enough president to be put onto Mount Rushmore! You know, they don't do that for every president! Just four of them! Ever! "Interesting. And yet the dems ROUTINELY tie history to republicans because the republicans win the southern states today.

Never mind the fact that this piece of shit wrote on social media of his obsession with the publicity given to mass murderers. By all means let's provide stuff for the next killer to get his rocks off before he massacres people. But it's all about the GUNS.

It does, of course, give the mediaswine at the NYT and elsewhere an opportunity to distract from the declining work force, illegal immigration, genocide and our embarrassment in the M.E., Hillbilly's emails, the slaughter for body parts at PP, etc.

SURE CURES FOR DANGEROUS-INSANE PERSONS:1. Two the chest and one to the head (FBI Protocol); Or,2. A "double tap to the head" (SAS and SEALS); Or,3. Four inches with the point, twist, repeat 3+ times (The "Old Sarge")

Of course, law abiding citizens in "weapons free zones", are not allowed those Natural Law defenses---Especially public universities which suppress "free speech", "free exercise of religion" and "the right to keep and bear arms" on their lands.

Sgt. Ted: "Broken home, over-protective mom, psych drugs at an early age, poor impulse control, nursing grievances and not taking responsibility for his bad feelings by making them the fault of others."

In other words, one of a significant part of a the Dem base, including Bill Clinton.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the question of psychosis with regard to the causes and motivations of mass killers. Of MOST mass killers, that is. I'm familiar with the types of reports you mention. But I'm also familiar with other reports that contradict those. I might say that most mass killers ACT psychotically without being actually, clinically psychotic ... but, no, I won't even grant them that. I don't think their actions are psychotic. I don't think mass murder is per se a psychotic act. The presence of psychosis is contingent on the state of one's mind. And the psychotic state of mind must be: radical detachment from reality, inability to distinguish between right and wrong, inability to understand the consequences of one's act--among other things. Mere paranoia is not necessarily evidence of psychosis unless it causes a break with reality. We are all paranoid at one time or another, to varying degrees. Does that mean that in those instance we are psychotic, and to varying degrees?

I have seen no convincing evidence that Jared Loughner had not seen the Sarah Palin gunsight posters. This was undoubtedly the thing that tilted that poor man's precarious mental balance in the direction of homicide. In like way, the exposure of that poor South Carolina youth to so many Confderate monuments and flags was undoubtedly what caused him to go berserk in church and shoot all those people. No reasonable man can deny those plain facts.......I'm just saddened that our President, a man whose first instinct is always to seek the moral high ground, has had to politicize this issue in order to get people to understand the malignancies that underlie our culture.

If you think that right wing talk radio contributed towards the bombing in Oklahoma City, and you think the Confederate Flag on the Dukes of Hazzard Car and flying over confederate cemeteries and Civil War monuments and battlefields contributed towards the Carolina shooting, but there's totally no way that the over-the-top vitriol and hatred directed at Kim Davis, Memories Pizza, Sweet Cakes by Melissa, Catholics, pro-lifers, Chick Fil A and a host of others could not possibly have influenced anyone to target Christians for murder...

On the contrary, the wish to blame those recent cop murders on the Black Lives Matter movement is just another example of the racism that underlies our nation. Their rhetoric appeals to the better angels of our nature and only the most reactionary members of our society have not been inspired by it. It has energized the Bernie Sanders campaign and shown the grandeur of that man's soul.

"the wish to blame those recent cop murders on the Black Lives Matter movement is just another example of the racism that underlies our nation"

I have to agree with you here, William. Black racism has reversed most of the considerable progress made by blacks since 1954. The black middle class is very dependent on government jobs so they oppose every effort to reduce the size of government for logical reasons. Some blacks have escaped the plantation but they are still held back by this constant paranoia about racial prejudice inhibiting their chance for success.

My black medical students are mostly from other countries and do not want to deal with the psychopathology of many American blacks who have been convinced by white lefties like you, William, that they cannot get ahead without the paternal attentions of the political left.

When you reach a certain position at the. Vatican, everyone expects you to be so fucking perfect. The only real release from the pressures of my job is posting sarcastic comments on Althouse and coaching the local middle school swim team.

I knew you were joking, William. This gave it away: This was undoubtedly the thing that tilted that poor man's precarious mental balance in the direction of homicide. In like way, the exposure of that poor South Carolina youth to so many Confederate monuments and flags was undoubtedly what caused him to go berserk in church and shoot all those people.

"His screen name on some social media sites was "lithium love." Lithium is used as a psychiatric medication. "Lithium" is also a song title. Lyrics:"

Lithium is also the name for an XM Satellite Radio station that plays grunge. Really a perfect name, as much as I am a big fan of grunge--it can be pretty depressing stuff.

As for "Can a person diagnosed with autism join the Army?" I would think so. The military gives you a physical themselves. I don't recall, when I joined the Marines, them ever asking for my medical records.

As for "Can a person diagnosed with autism join the Army?" I would think so. The military gives you a physical themselves. I don't recall, when I joined the Marines, them ever asking for my medical records.

That's what I do when I'm not posting here or enjoying myself. The recruiters are supposed to search legal records and ask recruits for ALL medical history, I see kids all the time who "forget" to list stuff and then they have to wait until we get the medical records. ADD and ADHD are reasons for disqualification. They must provide high school transcripts and all records of treatment. If they have maintained a C average off all meds for three years they MAY get in. A diagnosis of autism, or of any significant psych diagnosis is a DQ. They have to get a high enough score of several tests to even get as far as being interviewed by me.

The military is getting more strict on psych matters, probably since Bergdahl. They are also downsizing and I see kids applying for reserves because there are no active duty slots.

Of course, they can lie. and some do. Anger management is another big no no.

I don't think it's productive to discuss the mental states of people like this. It's a distraction. Mass murderers are a tiny portion of the population. It will never be possible to identify all of them and neutralize them before they kill, even if we are willing to override all civil liberties to do so. What the society needs to do is decide whether the risks posed by such people are sufficient to justify encouraging or requiring a well-armed community. The Oregon CC (according to media reports) made the judgment that the risk of mass murder was too small to justify arming their security guard (of course, one armed security guard might just have been the first victim). There are consequences of judgments like that.

The common law understanding of "militia" was that it included all able-bodied males between the ages of (help me here if I misremember the details) 18 and 50. Not all of them of course were part of the organized and drilled militia, but that was the ideal. Suppose we established a requirement that every able-bodied person (male and female) receive training in the use of firearms and carry a weapon at all times. We wouldn't have to rely on the courage of unarmed military vets to stop or discourage would-be murderers.

President Obama says we should adopt "common sense" measure to prevent mass murders. So that's my common sense proposal. Back to you Barry.

"A high-functioning autistic person might make it through training and through his or her enlistment without being discharged, but it's unlikely"

I've taken several of the online do-it-yourself diagnostic tests. And they all paint me as a high functioning autistic. Never been to a shrink though. Made it through 21 years of service. I suspect a lot of high functioning autistics go undiagnosed, because if your functioning passably well, who is going to look for and diagnose you?

Had one teacher over the years suggest we might need to have one of our kids tested for ADHD. My wife and I laughed at her. And told her in our opinion there was no such thing as hyperactive children, but rather a lot of underactive adults. I've known a lot of kids on medications for ADHD as a Scout leader. Before medication, none of them were any different then my kids have ever been. After medication is a whole other story.

What Laslo Spatula says is usually a joke, and not funny at that, but:

"I don't think many people go on a killing rampage after receiving a great blow-job."

At least several of the mass-shooting perpetrators did seem to have in common some form of mental illness or emotional issue, along with a family that allowed the suspect to withdraw rather than receive treatment and, in effect, fester and grow resentment. At the same time, while obviously recognizing that there was mental illness, the family allowed or even encouraged an access and practice with firearms. I do wonder how this man found the funds to purchase thirteen firearms and related accessories, ammunition, etc plus the the wherewithal to practice, when he didn't work and his mother was an LPN. Referring to Asperger's, the latest DSM no longer recognizes Asperger's as a diagnosis, for several reasons, although high functioning autism seems to contain at least some of the claimed symptoms of Asperger's. Some of the many claims about autism, Asperger's and the like are sooner or later going to be understood as behavioral issues instead of medical issues one of these days, if not already, and the medical claims will turn out to be so much blame-shifting for bad conduct. But at some point, I suppose, allowing the constant self-aggrandizement and self-pity, the complete lack of empathy...is this DNA or is this learned?

"Referring to Asperger's, the latest DSM no longer recognizes Asperger's as a diagnosis,"

Absorber's is only one thing I don't like about the new DSM.

The diagnosis was always about social skills and not intelligence. There have been a few examples of treatment of severe cases in which socialization was the problem. Now they are all called "Autism Spectrum," which confuses the situation.

It is still interesting as a concept but the severe cases of autism are unlikely to respond to this sort of treatment.

In light of the growing body of epidemiological information, genetic, and neurobehavioural evidence that distinguishes autism from Asperger's disorder, it is premature to rule out the possibility that these disorders may be clinically, and possibly neurobiologically separate.

That was 12 years ago but still applies as far as I am concerned.

There are too many aggressive parents who want their autistic children to be considered "normal" and who infest the public schools with "mainstreaming." Now, they are possible harming people with Asberger's who might benefit from treatment.

William is too civilized for most commenters, but I like his approach to the issues.

Another approach to understanding the outbreaks of violence and senseless murders everywhere is that there is a spiritual war going on as the last days come to their end. But perhaps it is safer to politicize demonic activity.

Never mind the fact that this piece of shit wrote on social media of his obsession with the publicity given to mass murderers. By all means let's provide stuff for the next killer to get his rocks off before he massacres people. But it's all about the GUNS.

Yes, dipshit! Because fame is SOOOO much easier to regulate than guns are!

As I have written elsewhere I would favor the confiscation of all handguns and after a six month moratorium a penalty of 50 years in the slammer if caught with one. Even if it was your cousin's gun. I propose a test drive in Chicago.

I think we would shortly see that the pussy lefties would say " that is not what we meant, not what we meant at all."

Of course, Liberals are upset we have too many people in prison as it is. when they were in control in the 60s and 70s you could murder someone and be out in 10 years because it was "wrong to put people in prison"

Well, as per the tests I exhibit some symptoms of Apsbergers (and autism), but went through Basic and 14 years with the USAF. So it's possible, although Basic is there in large part to insure that you can function reliably under stress. That said, USAF basic is not the same as US army, and this was also back in 1991, so things have changed since then.

I could see someone that was functional going through it, especially if they were undiagnosed (as I was). As to whether or not he was psychotic, we won;t know, since any diagnosis now is based on whatever he left behind. Not like you can psychoanalyze his corpse, alas. So it's a historical exercise after the fact.

Anyone who has been in the modern military knows that administrative issues is argot for whackadoo. They don't want to 'stigmatize' the wee bairn, impacting his credit score. But stigmata are there for a reason. For example....

With the help of Google, I was able to find a photo of his mother, Laurel Margaret Harper: http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/10/02/the-curious-case-of-oregon-shooter-chris-harper-mercer-a-social-media-profile-shaped-modified-and-deleted/comment-page-3/

As an added bonus, there's the CNN photo where they desaturated his selfie to depict him as white.

WilliamDon't be downhearted but do be aware that you are predicting as well as sarcing. If you joke about it, they will do it.

Progressivism is a progressive disease. At first you forget a few things you've done "I did not have sex with that woman", then you start forgetting people you know "Mubarack? Gaddafi?; are we talking about Chelsea's wedding or China's nukes? I left my jewels with Putin - or was it someone in Iran? Is this my son? Then you begin running around in your underwear or post underwear pictures on the Internet (same thing). You don't comb your hair. Then you forget the simplest things - how do you turn on the ringer on the phone? Is that black or white?

I must admit, I just about started fisking William's ironic commentary, too.

There were tells, I suppose. But if I were to regard every chock-full-o-leftist-tropes opinion I encountered as "satirical" on the basis of inane overreach, I'd get far too many false positives. MSNBC would look positively Swiftian.

As for this kid, what's there to say?

He's apparently a conservative (How so? Does he know what positions conservatives hold?) who hates Christians (Oh. Apparently not.) and a Neo-Nazi (Okay, that helps us know what to expect...) who is, and identifies as, mixed-race. (What the..?!)

In summary: That brain is a bag of snakes, whether from autism or something else.

Maybe it shows that my sarcasm is not too heavy handed. Maybe it shows how easy it is to be misunderstood.. At any rate, it's all ephemera--not even flotsam but bubbles on the flotsam--and forgotten in the morrow.

We can't locate all of the crazies, so let's solve the problem directly:

Since 9/11, a popular bumper sticker has circulated among gun owners. It reads, "The Second Amendment Is Homeland Security." This is more than just empty rhetoric.

In the last two years especially, street terrorist attacks in Israel have repeatedly been stopped by armed Israeli citizens. A terrorist opens fire at a crowded bus stop; a passing Israeli motorist draws his 9mm pistol and cuts him down. A late-arriving security man with an M-16 hoses the twitching terrorist just to make sure.

Another terrorist attempts to trigger an explosive device in a public place. An Israeli housewife draws her pistol and shoots him dead before he can detonate the bomb. The would-be martyr dies alone.

A third terrorist opens fire with an automatic weapon in an Israeli school. What could have been a mass murder on the scale of Columbine or greater is limited to a very short casualty list when Israeli parents and grandparents, who have provided volunteer armed security after receiving state training, open fire and kill him with their concealed pistols.

Laslo Spatula said Harold said..."What Laslo Spatula says is usually a joke, and not funny at that..." Absolutely, 100% wrong! And Laslo is on to something, re blow jobs. So many of these spree killers and mass murderers seem to be young men who have never had sex, or never even had girlfriends. Naturally, this doesn't include some of those who are also serial rapists or sexual sadists, nor does it include the typical murderer, but it does include, apparently, Adam Lanza, Seung_Hui Cho, possibly Dylann Roof, and many others. It's not strictly about sex, of course, but about psychological and social development. A young man who has never had sex, or who is otherwise rejected by women, or has no idea how to relate to women, must feel utmost shame, like he is a complete loser, and like he is not fully human, like he is defective. I'm not referring to a man who is rejected by A woman, or SOME women, of course, but to a man who feels like a failure as a man, rejected by the entire female sex. Even using the word "virgin" for them is ridiculous, feminizing, and humiliating. The sad fact is, they are right, but they are worthless only because almost everybody believes it to be true. If society could change its attitude in this regard, these things could happen less often. Maybe, I don't know the answer to this problem.